How To Gain Weight and Build Muscle Fast

If your goal is a bulked-up physique, you’ll need to put in
the work necessary to acquire that profile. Unfortunately,
there’s no gain without the pain. Quick fixes don’t work,
especially if they’re the fad variety – i.e., take this
supplement and gain five pounds of muscle in a week.

How to gain weight fast? This is the big question for
hardgainers.

To
gain weight and build muscle mass as quickly as possible, you’ll need to eat a
very specific diet and follow a rigorous exercise routine that
includes both strength training and aerobics. Still, bulking up
typically isn’t a super-fast process … but it is possible for
you to make some changes to your diet and exercise routines to
see quicker results.

Eat Enough To Gain Muscle Mass

You probably know the old formula: you need to cut 3,500
calories in order to lose one pound. Well, the converse is true,
too: you need to add 3,500 calories in order to gain one pound.
If your goal is a reasonable one pound every week, that’s
approximately 500 extra calories every day.

To gain weight, you’ll need to eat a lot – but be
careful not to go overboard. If you consume more than that, it
likely will get added to your body in the form of fat, not
muscle tissue. Track your calories carefully and make sure
you’re burning the vast majority of what you consume.

Don’t Bulk Up On Protein

You
may believe that a high-protein diet will enable you to gain
weight and build
muscle mass fast. That’s true, but most Americans already eat a
high-protein diet, and you probably don’t need to add any
protein as part of your extra calories.

If you get about 15 to 20 percent of your daily calories each
day in the form of protein, that’s plenty of protein, since your
body can’t store any extra. The rest of your diet should be made
up of about 30 to 35 percent fat calories and 45 to 55 percent
carbohydrate calories. Both carbs and fats provide quick energy
for your cells to burn during hard workouts.

Design The Perfect Workout

It’s tempting to focus on the part of your body that you want to
bulk up the most. However, you risk injury and worse, the chance
to really build overall muscle, by working your abs, your chest
and your arms at the expense of your other muscle groups.

When developing a program to build muscle, you should make sure
to hit all the large muscle groups – from your legs up to your
shoulders – twice or three times a week. Alternate days – you
can group your legs with your core on one day, for example, and
work your shoulders, arms and back muscles the next day.

In addition, you shouldn’t neglect aerobic exercise – in fact,
you should aim to do half-an-hour of some sort of cardio workout
at least five days a week.

How Much Muscle Will You Gain?

Your genetics and your own dedication to your training program
will determine how much you can bulk up. Unfortunately, some
people simply have the genetic predisposition for more muscle
mass than others.

On average you can expect to gain about three pounds of muscle
per month during the first month or two of following this
program. After that, your monthly gains likely will decline
slowly until you’re gaining one pound or less per month.
However, those first few pounds of muscle will make all the
difference in your looks and physique – expect people to ask
whether you’ve been bulking up, and how you’ve gotten your
results.